At present, the generation of electricity is based on fossil fuel like coal, oil and gas and their supply is also limited and is expected to get exhausted by the end of this century. Moreover, the world is now facing the threat of global warming and every effort is being made to reduce pollution. Therefore, search is going on for a source of electricity that is renewable. Solar energy fits this bill perfectly. Another advantage of solar power is that it is completely non-polluting.



The process of producing electricity using solar power involves using solar panels. These solar panels use photovoltaic technology to convert solar energy into electricity. The greatest advantage of generating electricity from sunlight is that the source of energy is inexhaustible and the generation process is completely non-polluting and no hazardous waste material is produced as a by-product. Therefore, generation of using solar energy could be considered the best environment friendly alternative for the future of our planet.

Solar cells do not use thermal energy to generate electricity, which is the case when using fossil fuel or nuclear energy. The electricity is generated directly from the sunlight. The process is based on the principle of photovoltaic effect. In this process, a light photon is absorbed by an atom of the solar cell. This photon provides one of the atom's electrons enough energy to break free of its orbit around the atom. Most solar panels are made of wafers of pure silicon that have small amounts of other elements added. By addition of these elements, silicon is converted into a semiconductor. The semiconductor creates the necessary electrostatic field required to draw the free electrons to the surface of the cell, where they are collected by thin wire and then they flow out as electricity.

The electricity generated by the solar panels is first stored in storage batteries, which is in DC. An inverter would convert DC into AC and then this would be fed to households for consumption. The use of DC storage batteries ensure that we are able to get electricity in the night when there is no sunlight to generate electricity. Another advantage of solar panels is that they need very little maintenance for its operation and they could operate for at least twenty years without requiring any replacement. Almost all places of the earth, except the polar regions, receive sunlight abundantly and generating electricity using solar panel is not a problem.

The main disadvantage of generating electricity using sunlight is the very high initial cost of installing these solar panels. Also, the efficiency of generating power is quite low. It may require a lot of space to accommodate this solar panel to generate enough power for commercial purpose. But, research is going on to get over this disadvantage so as to produce commercial electricity at a cheap rate using solar energy.